Friday Skull Session

Or, as it seems to be popular to refer to NSD as Christmas Day... Merry Day After the Day After Christmas, to you and yours!

HIGH SCHOOL PUNTER UPDATE. While Wednesday was obviously a fantastic day for Urban Meyer and his entire staff, Jim Tressel had to be smiling as well. Though it seemed that Vonn Bell's commitment to Ohio State would be the story of the day in Ohio, a high school punter managed to steal some of the five-star safety's thunder.

Johnny Townsend, an Ohio State commit since June, was expected to fax his NLOI to OSU at a ceremony at his school at noon on Wednesday. The ceremony was pushed back several hours initially, and then ultimately canceled.

Speculation began as to what was going on behind the scenes and, while I won't discuss some of the more "out there" theories, the most common one was that circumstances had changed and his scholarship offer had been pulled. Townsend's father was adamant that was not the case, his scholarship offer still stood at Ohio State, and that the recent indecision was due to personal issues.

Yesterday, Townsend did fax his NLOI, only to Will Muschamp and the Florida Gators. Alex Gleitman reported that, though the situation was evolving, it was possible that his opportunities had changed once Urban Meyer landed Bell, Clark and Wilson. Later, however, the Orlando Sentinel interviewed Townsend, and reported that his opportunities only changed in the sense that Florida, his dream school, had offered him a scholarship in the 11th hour.

In the interview, which you can watch here, Townsend talks about his personal history with the University of Florida, his respect for Ohio State and the coaching staff, and why he had to make this decision for himself to decommit and attend his dream school. Surely we can all respect that.

And, for those of you that can, Townsend had a message via Twitter for you last night:

S/o to the real #BuckeyeNation you all are the best fans and I hope my decision is respected and understood. #gogators

IF MAMA AIN'T HAPPY. One of the more bizarre stories out of the recruiting world this week, other than Reuben Foster committing to the rival of the team he had tattooed on his leg, was that of Alex Collins' mother confiscating his NLOI and refusing to sign it. The running back out of Plantation, FL, was set to commit to Arkansas, prompting concern from his mother about him being so far from home. Apparently, she had wanted him to attend Da U.

Well, now this story makes perfect sense. I can see why such a concerned mother would want her vulnerable son to be at a place that's battling allegations of hookers, yacht parties, and abortions paid for by boosters. To each her own. Collins eventually was able to get his father to sign his NLOI, and commit to Arkansas like he had intended.

Yesterday, Forbes contributor and professor of Law Roger Groves presented an interesting take on the whole scenario with Collins' overprotective mother, analyzing the ways in which this control that parents can have over the NLOI until age 21 can influence college football on a much broader scale, and whether or not parents should be playing a more active role than they currently are in the decision making process.

So imagine the press conference where Ms. McDonald stands at the podium stoic as Condoleezza Rice, charismatic as Michelle Obama, and says,

“I have convinced Alex to attend a school that not only promised to take care of him, but actually did the best job of teenagers much like him. They earned the opportunity – and here is my list from which I found the right fit.”

It's an intriguing perspective and I'll let you read through it, if you're interested, rather than paraphrase the whole thing for you; but, here's some other food for thought: You have to be 21 to not require a parent's signature on a NLOI to receive a scholarship? My mind is suddenly bombarded with all the other things you're allowed to do in this country at the age of 18, but this you need to be 21 for? Ridiculous.

Will Urban and the Buckeyes be here, January 12, 2015?

PLAYOFFS?! The BCS commissioners met on Thursday in Dallas to discuss the upcoming college football playoff system. While some information as to the new format has come out of the past couple months, the question still remains as to who will make up the selection committee that will decide the four teams that will have a chance to compete for the national championship each year, and was the biggest topic of the meeting on Thursday.

The commissioners are envisioning something very much like the NCAA basketball tournament selection committee, with a football committee made up of 14-20 members, and including representation from each of the 10 FBS conferences. So, for all the people that are mad that a bunch of computers decide the two teams that get to play for the national title, get excited. Now you'll have a bunch of men deciding the four teams that get to play for the national title.

The committee members could come from all walks of life, including former commissioners, former and current athletic directors and former coaches, Hancock said.

"We want experienced football purists, experts," Hancock said.

The selection committee will receive a "jury charge" from the commissioners. In ranking the teams, the committee will consider strength of schedule, where the games were played, conference championships and whether teams lost games because of injuries to key players.

In the playoff, the top four ranked teams -- as determined by the selection committee -- will meet in the semifinals. After those four teams are selected, the league champion or top available team from the Pac-12 and Big Ten will play in the Rose Bowl presented by Vizio, SEC and Big 12 teams in the Allstate Sugar Bowl and ACC in the Discover Orange Bowl.

If we're going to have a playoff, can we just fast forward to the eight-team format already? Doesn't Boise State whine enough as it is?

The commissioners are scheduled to meet again in April in Pasadena to discuss and announce more details about the first title game, scheduled to take place on January 12, 2015.

HOOPS. The 10th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team plays host to the top-ranked Indiana Hoosiers this Sunday. That top rank, however, won't mean as much as it was supposed to when the Hoosiers head to Columbus this weekend, following their loss to the Illinois Fighting Illini Thursday night.

Though the Illini got off to a 13-1 start, the month of January wasn't kind to them once conference play began. Illinois went 2-7 during this calendar year, up until their upset over Indiana this week. One of those wins was a steamrolling of Ohio State, perhaps making Illinois one of the most Jekyll and Hyde teams of this season.

While not completely relevant to the game last night between the Hoosiers and the Illini, or the upcoming game between the Buckeyes and the Hoosiers, I just thought you might enjoy this. But be sure to grab some tissues.

Comments

I'm very happy to read that Townsend's scholarship was not pulled and that there is no credibility lost from tOSU and Meyer! That said, choosing Muschamp over starting as a freshman with Meyer and co.???

I agree with you in the feeling of relief that his scholaship was not pulled. Though we are opererating under sanctions, I'm glad we are not falling to the level of iffy behavior some schools in the western portion of our Southeast are content to exhibit. However, I can't fault him for choosing Muschamp and Florida. The kid is a Gator fan and has been probably since he can remember. I'll never be able to be upset about a kid choosing to play for the team he has always cheered for. I wish him well unless he ever meets the Freak Show.

Different situation. Bell was a Vols fan but had more time to think about what was best for him. Plus I think Bell was just a fan of watching Tenn, probably not as big of a fan as Townsend is of UF.
Townsend didn't have an offer from UF until late, very late. I think if townsend had time to think about it, he would have gone with OSU because he would have known he would have a better situation. I think he went with his heart with little time to think. Can't blame him at all with that. If anyone of us were committed to another school and Urban came on Feb. 6th to offer us, we would have dropped that school like a bad habit and committed to OSU on the spot!

Dream school.
Think of it this way- you grew up rooting for OSU, right? Say you didn't have a scholarship offer from OSU and were committed to Bama. Great program. Wins national titles. But it isn't your dream school. At the last second, OSU comes through with an offer. What would you do?
I'd be a Buckeye.
Glad for Townsend that he got to go to his dream school. Best of luck to the kid.

Not eveyone is ready to up and leave everything they are familiar with at the age of 18. Some are... other's aren't. Columbus is pretty far (and pretty different) than Orlando. I just hope he can look back in four years and be at peace with his decision (and I'm sure he will). No ill will towards this kid from Buckeye Nation.
In Frank Epitropoulos we trust.

I do not root for Illinois. Is someone chopping onions in here?
The problem with a four or eight team playoff is surely the teams on the bubble or those that would be marginally considered. Think VCU but with pads and bigger guys. It might even be OSU.....

The more teams in the playoff, the less merit the bubble teams' arguments/whining will have. Especially b/c it is likely the SEC will take up 2 of the 4 playoff spots for the foreseeable future, then it comes down to the best teams from the Pac12, Big12 and B1G, as well as the strong non-AQ programs, vying for 2 spots -- teams inevitably will be snubbed. With 8 spots, it'll be much harder for teams to argue they legitimately were the #1 team (which, after all, is what the playoffs are supposed to prove).

This Skull Session felt longer than usual. Maybe it's because i'm half asleep.
Anyway.. I knew Indiana would lose. Just about every time I want Ohio State to be the team to end anothers streak or ranking, that team loses the game before they play Ohio State.

This almost killed the fantasy...

What fantasy is that? :/

"YOLO" = I'm about to do something extremely ignorant/stupid & I need an excuse to do it.

Yeah it's a joke. When I was in HS, there was a guy that was a senior when I was a freshman that had all kinds of creepy sayings like this. We called him Scumbag Larry, which Larry wasn't even his name, it just had a funny to us.

If you are right, then I am a jerk - but we already knew that.
Also, I've been known to make some pretty off-color jokes on here, myself. But sometimes I can't resist getting into philosophical/theological arguments.
My point, which wasn't made very elegantly (as I went for cheap wordplay, myself) was that much of what we find funny implies moral outlooks that wouldn't be so swell. The duality of man and all that. But I came across as preaching and now possibly engaged in some friendly fire.

Not necessarily. If I know Denny (and let's pretend I do when all I really know of him is his penchant for snarky--and hilarious--one liners, as you have pointed out), I think he probably would find your comment pretty funny. I assumed that's how it was intended. If not, maybe you are a jerk after all, or maybe we all just need to take ourselves a little less seriously.

@ Fido - My comment was aimed further up the chain at GB713 and the sphere of inevitable objectification comments that happen around these parts (often in a post by Elika or Sarah, which ratchets up the creepiness) and how they get out of hand and creepy as hell (i.e. we got a recruit! Here is a gif of Kate Upton!).
But nuance isn't always my strong suit, especially given the drive-by nature of internet commenting (and my particular flavor of it). Earle is right; I got a laugh out of your comment. But I will point out that every now and again I'll shun the one-liners and unfairly thoroughly dissect a comment that I disagree with word by word -- especially focusing on flubbed grammar. So, not only one-liners.

Denny - totally my bad!
You do occasionally make long-form comments and they are always insightful and interesting. Honestly, I just always figured that you're too busy to post a bunch of lengthy comments because you - unlike me - have a real job (scientist, right?).
A thousand lashes for me.

I was kidding with Denny, but maybe with a bit of a passive aggressive edge. No question, though, I do enjoy reading Denny's comments.
One of my many bad habits is that I tend to prematurely pull out a gun in rhetorical knife fights and then I later discover that the "attacker" either wasn't even holding a knife or he/she was really intending to wield it against someone else.
But at least I don't hold grudges. As soon as I get the pissiness out of my system, I'm ready to bury the hatchet.

and really, sometimes people are too worried about being P.C. and most need to realize a joke is just a joke. None of us should have to defend what we say in fear of offending others. The only people that need to worry about public ridicule are scUM fans and mouth breathers, especially the ones that mouth breathe on conference calls and don't have the common courtesy to mute their phone.

On the flip side of that coin, people who are specifically making non-PC jokes largely for the sake of not being PC need to be damned sure that the joke is a good one. Otherwise you're just being an asshole.

Man there's a lot of nutty women out there(like Reuben Foster's mother). I used to be married to one. They really can mess with their kid's mind.
I know, I know. There's some messed up dad's too.
Just let your kids live their lives the way they want to, and not try to live yours through theirs, or be so insecure that you need them attached to your hip.
I think the best example of "good parenting" was the job that I read in the Mike Mitchell gray box. His parents seem like they did a damn good job of raising him and letting him make his own life decisions. Same with EzE's parents.

about Townsend...Florida offered him a scholly at the 11th hour? with 4-5 other good punters on roster??
This feels like Muschamp trying anything he can do to get back at Meyer for literally stealing Clark...this makes me soooo happy...I'm sorry Johnny is not coming to Columbus but I'm really happy this feels like Clark is the one they really wanted at the end and had to offer the Punter to spite us....love it.

At first I was reading your post thinking "can we shut up about the damn punter already?", but your second paragraph made me smile. Clearly I'd trade Clark for Townsend, and if Urban got into Muschamp's head that much, then good for us. Ha ha.

I was really hoping you might drop a line about "cupcakes" and/or something about another way-to-early-2013-preseason-poll.
Re: Mrs. Collins.... Maybe hookers, yacht parties and abortions are already a staple of the Collins family and she really doesn't want her son to miss out on those things in Fayetteville. I appalud her concern.
Going from a two-team BCS cross-your-fingers system to a four-team BCS playoff is like ordering a filet medium or medium rare and having it show up burned to a crisp the first time and well-done the second time... We'll get there eventually... right?

I guess Townsend made the right decision for himself, and hope he is happy and ends up doing well down there. The playoff selection committee should be VERY interesting. I really can't decide on who should be on the panel, but I hope former coaches are not (at least those from major powers), as well as current AD's. I think those particular people would have quite a difficult time remaining COMPLETELY objective. I think some respected sportswriters might be appropriate.

So basically he moved his time back so he could wait for Florida to wiff on a couple others! You can say awwww johnny got his offer from his dream school. I look at it like he somewhat played osu/urban. Wednesday people were throwing stones at our staff saying they should honor his commitment because he's been committed for 6 months. Recruiting can be brutal. Adios Johnny!

**In August, Urban was the one who offered a full ride & Muschamp wanted him as a preferred walk on! I'm thinking that Urban snagging Clark really got under ole Willie's skin. He couldn't kick Urban's dog so he decided to offer Johnny

>>where the games were played, conference championships and whether teams lost games because of injuries to key players
So now they will judge if a key player lost them a game? What if they won dispite having a key player hurt? (Purdue) Does a team get extra credit? What if the player got hurt, they won and he won't play in the bowl game? Better yet, what if the player may or may not play in the bowl game?
This is way too subjective for me. I'm one of the ones who prefers the 2 team championship. It helps make every game a national championship for schools like OSU. I genuinely beleive they haven't gotten it wrong yet with the BCS 1 vs. 2 but if we go to 4 why are we now taking out the BCS poll and replacing it with a bunch of guys sitting in a room?

The committee for the NCAA tournament has always considered injuries and it has worked out just fine, I don't think this is anything new or will be anything detrimental. Kenyon Martin breaking his leg in the conference tournament comes to mind

I SOS, winning on the road and if you are a conference champ will be weighted far more than if you lost a game because of an injury or not. I just think that's instead of the current model that penalizes you for any loss, this keeps a team in the hunt if they lost a game because the best player got hurt. I mean if Braxton goes down in one in 2014 and we lose, it'd be nice to know we still have a shot to get in, instead of saying well there's always next year.

Seems sketchy, but wish the kid well. Considering Florida's classy behavior in the Sugar Bowl (and against us in the Gator Bowl last year) and considering Anzalone is now there, maybe this was the best choice for him, afterall.

"Sherman ran an option play right through the south" - Greatest Civil War analogy EVER.

so was I the only person to click on the Rural Olympics link, misread the title to say "Iowa", and then think "man, that just doesn't look at ALL what I remember Iowans to look like..."?
not sure whether to start drinking coffee or scotch right now...

Amen Jax!! That's what I was screaming the other day when folks were throwing daggers at the OSU staff when they said they should've honored Townsends commitment and not sign Clark! Here all along he had a spot & hung Urban out to dry. Poor Johnny.... F the Gators

And don't gimme that, "my parents and family went to UF" If you were in love with Florida & it was your dream school then you would've jumped when they offered the walk on spot!

My only question about the Townsend situation is whether the Buckeyes knew he might bail on them if Florida ever came through with a scholarship offer -- I assume the answer here is no, since I suspect nobody is going to hold a spot for a punter if they doubt they are even that punter's true first choice.
This actually bothers me more than if it had been a genuine change of heart. It's one thing if someone falls out of love with you, but it's another if they merely say they love you while secretly pining for someone else. (Yes, this is all hypothetical. No, really, it is.)
I "understand" his decision; I just don't "respect" it.
Regarding the playoff, I've assumed all along we would have something like the NCAA selection committee, though these guys are going to be under a much more powerful microscope, since the slots are fewer and the money is going to be insane within a few years. I just hope the B1G has a loud voice in that room, given that we've been screwed over on potential sites for the actual games.

As the parent of a high school athlete, you better believe I am going to have some say and influence in where my daugther takes her talents. Should I make the decision for her? Of course not. However, if I have done my job as a parent she will take my opinions into consideration when making the decision. I realize my daughter is not going to be playing D-1 football nor is she going to the NFL so the decision we make may not have the same long term implications, but the point remains: This is my child. I am sending her miles and miles away from home to a place she has never been. I am turning over the most important aspect of my life to complete strangers who say they have her best interest at heart. Why would a parent not want to be involved in this process? There are many things an 18 year old cannot do -- and for good reason. There is not some magic maturity mode kids go into at 12am the day they turn into an 'adult.' Kids can be mesmerized by many things about a school and thus may not consider some of the other positives or negatives.
The reality is, if my son or daugther was about to make a decision that I as a parent, accompanied by all the insight a wisdom that comes along with being an adult in the world for many years, that was contrary to her overall well being I would not stop with the simple grabbing of paperwork.

I'm not buying it. I think Townsend got caught in the numbers game at OSU and didn't want to be without a scholy for the near future until a roster spot opened. Who would? I don't blame him for leaving. I understand it. No "saving face" needed. Good Luck to him. Frank,..get that leg ready son! I think he can do it.

Count me in as one who is elated to hear that his scholly wasnt pulled. I know some here dont wish to believe whats being put out but its all I have to go on and have no reason to discredit it. Kudos to the kid for being a class act and reaching out to buckeye nation.